Torpedo boat, head on

8/2/1964

This photograph, taken from the deck of the U.S. destroyer Maddox, shows a North Vietnamese P-4 torpedo boat closing in on the American vessel. Three of these nimble craft attacked the U.S.S. Maddox on August 2, 1964, in the Gulf of Tonkin. The Maddox, assisted by aircraft from the carrier Ticonderoga, destroyed one torpedo boat and damaged two others.